Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Instead of Uncle Sam, it MJ Slide and and Katie Payne need YOUR help. I'm currently seeking out local businesses and inviduals who might be interested in sponsoring a stage play I'm producing. The Giver, a stage adaptation of Lois Lowry's Newberry Award winning book and adapted by Eric Coble will be presented at the Furman Playhouse Theatre August 18th, 19th, and 20th, directed, produced and performed by an ENTIRE teen cast.

The cast and crew have banded together to cover a lot of the expenses out of pocket including royalites to use the script, funds to cover cover set construction, costuming, and promotional materials but we could seriously use your help to cut some of the heavy expenses in half.

Director Katie Payne

Both this project and its Director Katie Payne I truly believe in, the story alone deserves your attention and I believe its a great way to unite the arts community around a group of young people who are defining the norm that medocity is ok and stepping above and beyond and making something that can and will have an postive impact. If interested in becoming a sponsor of the project I will send you the various information needed to complete the sponsorship. In return for the different level of funds we can offer advert space for your local business or charity of your choice in our playbill as well as promient advertising space on our official Facebook page and twitter stream. Basically its a crowdfunding campaign without kickstarter or indigiegogo as a platform.

All the information for the production company on FB "That Awkward Stage Theatre Project" can be found here! http://www.facebook.com/ThatAwkwardStageProject)

And THE GIVER official event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134272379991995

Spread the word about the project and how people can get involved. Lets rock this folks! This is a joint effort, bringing the arts together on a level that can really make a difference. Feel free to contact me directly at mj@magnoliahideout.com and I can fill you in on all the details.

Every $$ counts and affords a production that is clearly going to make some waves further its reach and impact our local theatre and audience for many years to come. Will you join us?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Bit of a micro blog or sorts to get off my chest and off my mind but hopefully its sentiments will ring true with my fellow filmmakers.

Some people sell insurance, others are florists, run ice cream businesses or raise families. I make movies. Its what I do. I literally cannot see myself doing anything else, or even half as well and with that amount of passion. I just came off a teaser trailer shoot yesterday and I'm on still on this high. My brain won't function properly, it keeps rehashing, learning from what I did right and what i could do better and most of all, i feel amped up, itching to get back on set again. This sense of longing, returning to the hustle and bustle, the constant intake, processing ,and bringing of ideas to life in the form of collaboration between mind, camera, and actor. There is seriously nothing like filmmaking. I brought on half a dozen extras who has never stepped foot onto a film set before. Noted we were shooting gureilla but they just went with the flow with these fantastic grins on their faces. They got bossed around, drank pop and ate crafty, played fake chess, watched other total strangers make out for the camera, run around in a crowd with a girl who looked like she just got the crap beaten out of her and you know what they said? That it was pretty much the coolest experience they had had in a long time and they couldn't wait to do it again.

I tell ya, its like a frakking drug. Once you're hooked you just can't let go. To bring those many different types of people together, with all their imput, perspective, and creative ability that they willingly infuse into a project happens rarely and when it does it tops the certfied "Made of Awesome" list. I'm gushing I know but I'm hoping my brain will let me sleep once I get this all out.

So many people have asked why I've taken on a feature length film. Deep down it might be for an extremely selfish reason but basically I want to work on a story i love and care about and so does everyone else whose a part of the team and get to work on that story with those characters and those awesome peeps as long as I possibly can. The world needs the florists, the homemakers, the insurance sales reps, and the world needs filmmaking. I know I do.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

More like blog cleaning but you get the idea. I decided to start a new blog after purchasing the official URL and rebranding my production company which in now "JUNK INK FILMS" cause I feel like indie film can be considered one man's trash and all the cool people's treasure.

Anyhow, if you're interested in checking out my old blog with almost a year and a half of blog posts chronicling my journey through the entire creation of THE SAVING and all the ins and outs of that production, you can find that HERE.

In the mean time I've included below the last post I wrote concerning twitter and the first of a three part series concerning Social Media and the indie filmmaker/screenwriter. Feel free to check out and I hope all my readers can make the switch between blogs simply and without pain. Thanks so much for reading! - MJ Slide

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This is the beginning of a three part series concerning my experience on twitter and the benefits of being on and staying on. Bullet points today of general thoughts and the next post will be concerning #Scriptchat and other good stuff.

1. You can form real lasting friendships with 140 characters as your format and all those who say you can't are either ignorant or just haters. Probably both.

2. Forget watching the news, I realized i check my twitter feed for all the latest updates of things brewing around the globe.

3. You cannot run a successful film and or build an audience without a faithful twitter presence.

4. Twitter is a two way street. You wanna get something out of it, be willing to invest your time, energy and personality and you know, genuinely care about people, their projects and how you can help them succeed.

5. You shouldn't be a screenwriter or filmmaker and not be on twitter. You're cutting your legs out from under you. The bevy of advice, feedback, and all around good times is a steady encouragement to my muse and all its ramblings.

6. The people on twitter are cool. Where else can you carry on a conversation with a producer, photographer, actor, small business owner, screenwriter, and stunt guy all in one false swoop? Film school does not offer this sort of access at all times.

7. Twitter is about giving back. Its a give and take. You make DVDs for me, I send a Mac your way so you can finish coding a nifty pre-production software that will blow minds. You should WANT to give back.

8. Twitter is for people who never want to stop learning. I have an awesome infographic of the History of Science Fiction posted on my wall in my office because some nerd like myself had to share it in his feed. (its AWESOME btw) I've benefited in so many different ways, that being just one of the examples. Be it people like Sheri Candler, Jon Reiss, Edward Burns, Chris Jones, Film Courage Radio, or just any filmmaker/screenwriter I know whose posted something, a helpful link to film budget legal documents, QR code generators, or the newest episode of Script Cops, they're there and they're helping and guiding to greatness. Even if they don't know it :-)

9. Your logline for your screenplay is only short enough when you can post it in one tweet. #Screenwriting and social media working hand and hand, who knew.

10. Twitter has taught me to care more and hate less. Its opened my eyes to how many different cultures operate even within the boundaries of 140 characters and I feel like if you want to learn about the world from the confines of an office, twitter is the way to go.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Monday, May 9, 2011

Here's a never seen before look at one of the very earliest drafts of the FEATURE LENGTH version of THE SAVING script. For your eyes only.

INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING

Flop house in its prime.

The room is dark. Sunlight seeps underneath the cheap blinds.

Stale smoke lingers in the air.

Beer cans - TEENS DOWNING DRINKS

Cigarettes - A GIRL BLOWS A GAG WORTHY CLOUD OF SMOKE

Still smoldering pot joints - A BOY GRINS ALL MANIC

Plates of cardboard pizza.

THE SOUND OF A SOMEONE PUKING THEIR GUTS OUT OFF SCREEN

TRIPPED UP LAUGHING

Then, DEAD. QUIET.

Five teens are passed out stone cold, on flimsy couches,
plastic lawn chairs, and on the threadbare rug. All except
for one.

A girl sits at the edge of the couch, head in her hands. This
is SKYE MATTHEUS (16) skinny, ragged black hair, loose
fitting muted tone clothes. Urban hobo.

She finally looks up. Her dark eyes are glazed over. She
stares at nothing.

Skye reaches down underneath the couch and pulls out a
military issue style backpack. She stands to her feet, the
couch SQUEAKS painfully but the blond haired boy lying
sprawled out doesn't even twitch.

Skye slings the backpack over her shoulder and threads her way through crowded living room. She doesn't look back.

INT. KITCHEN - MORNING

A french press coffee maker murmurs on the granite counter
top. The coffee bag is dumped over on its side, beans all
over the place.

AN EMPTY BEACH - WAVES LAP THE SHORE

A set of strong fingers haphazardly scribbles away at a legal
notepad. The paper is almost completely filled up with
complicated math problems and random phrases.

PAIR OF JELLY SHOE SANDALS - A CHILDS TOES DIG INTO THE SAND

The hand lingers over the words "red and white and truth all
over."

The hands belong to PAUL CONNEL. The man is in his early 30s,
well built, sandy brown hair. His business clothes are
rumpled, he's fully dressed, red tie loosened around his
neck. Bachelor trainwreck. Dark circles under his eyes. Sleep
doesn't seem to be his friend.

Paul shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. He
won't look up.

A pair of bare feet step onto the kitchen's threshold. Paul's
head whips up. SHELLEY MATTHEUS, mother of Skye. The DEAD
mother of Skye. She's right by his side. She mouths words in
his ear as if SCREAMING them, totally desperate, but NO SOUND
comes out.

Paul squeezes his eyes shut. Only his heavy BREATHING is
heard.

Finally he slowly opens his eyes. He's alone again.

He shakes his head and reaches for the small espresso mug on
the table. He goes to down it without checking to see if
there's anything left. There isn't.

He stares into the cup. Out of nowhere he grips it tightly
then HURLS it against the far wall. He throws like a baseball
pitcher. The mug SHATTERS.

Paul mumbles.

PAUL
We all just play. Play like we've got it all together.

He pulls himself to his feet like every bone in his body
aches.

A big old calico cat strolls into the kitchen and weaves
through Paul's legs, purring. Paul glances down. He smiles
but there's no spark behind it.

PAUL (CONT'D)
But really, we don't.

His eyes fall on the lopsided ceramic bowl on the tabletop,
filled with gleaming red apples.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Hey Guys, as you might know this is the official Backer only blog for my trip to Seattle Washington in June to attend the West Coast premiere of THE SAVING. By now all your digital copies of the film should be sitting in your inbox waiting for you to enjoy. If so and you've gotten the time to view it, any thoughts you'd like to share?

I wanted to give you guys the secret heads up that I'm actually planning on revealing the target set dates to shoot the feature length version of THE SAVING, whose crewing, whose leading the acting helm and how and the world we plan on making this 90+ minute film on a microbudget. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone :P

But anyhow, I'm actually off to Atlanta Georgia tomorrow for another screening of the film at the Lovett School HS Film Festival. I'll be posting exclusive pics and video from our three hour road trip down. It'll be myself, the female lead of THE SAVING, Stephanie Ibbotston, favorite PA and BFF Katie Payne and our costume designer and all around freaking brilliant person Apryl Mitchell-Snyder. Looking forward to sharing the journey with you guys! Thanks again for all your support and keep spreading the word. We still got a lot of ground to cover if I'm going to be able to pimp out you guys with some freaking awesome swag.